The Learning Curve
by Ikirose
Summary: Will Saten finally get her ability? A story written out of my sympathy for Saten.
1. 1: Launch

The sun beamed in through the windows of the classroom. It was an intense heat that was entering the room, the sun was irritating the eyes of Saten Ruiko, who sat with an irritated expression on her face with her hand raised, chewing lazily on the end of her pencil.

Saten was once again in extra classes for her inability to gain her ability.

She gazed down at the words "Personal Reality" for the umpteenth time and screwed up her face in a confused-annoyed expression. It was a word she half got, as she thought back to Uiharu's words about personal reality. "Saten?" The teacher spoke with an irritated tone as he extended an arm in her direction and waved patronizingly. She snapped out of her daydream and replied promptly: "Yes, sensei?" "What were we just talking about?" "I, uh, don't know?" She retorted as she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment, called out in front of the entire class, again.

"Saten can you wait there?" The teacher called out after he drew a conclusion to the class. "Y-Yes sir!" Saten nervously spoke, as she knew exactly what it was about.

"It seems like you have problems focussing, Saten-san" Terada-sensei spoke softly, he was the teacher who offered the continued extra classes for the struggling students, he was a kind man and he seemed to be taking some empathy in the student's situation and so offered these classes. "Do you have problems with motivation?" He followed up after Saten stood in silence. "It's not like that, I really want to at least become a level 1" She spoke, diverting her gaze as she though back to her family expecting to her to have an ability. "Why don't you try thinking of whatever drives you in class and try to maintain some focus" Terada began, "If you do that you're sure to succeed, you aren't unintelligent Saten" He finished as he left a pause to let her collect a few thoughts.

The sun was setting by now and Saten was walking alongside the river that ran through Academy city and a large, domineering bridge ran over the river. She felt a vibration in her bag and reached in to pull out her phone and to see Uiharu's name up on the display. "Moshi moshi? Uiharu?" She spoke in an upbeat fashion, despite what could only be described as a depressing evening lesson. After a casual chit chat with Uiharu, Saten snapped her phone shut and tossed it back in her bag, she took a deep breath out and carried on walking, it was like an effort to provide a pretence that she was her usual upbeat self, when infact she was quite downtrodden about not being able to be alongside Misata and the others. She then had a flashback of when she was able to aid them by breaking the capacity down and allowing them to fight on even terms, but what if it was Saten that was the one doing the butt-kicking? Why couldn't she?

All the self-probing questions made Saten's head ache as she pulled her door open and feel around for the light switch and flick it on and rub her eyes in her tiredness. She stood in her kitchen lonely, wondering why she hadn't ushered Uiharu to move into her room after remembering that she was still living with Erii, despite her still being in hospital. She shrugged off her thought train and pulled her kettle up as she poured some hot water into her cup of instant ramen and watched the noodles float to the top.

Saten distinctly heard a bird chirping as she shot wide awake and her eyes flipped open quickly. It was Friday now, and she realised that it was her final bout of extra lessons before the weekend would arrive and she could hang out with her friends.

She pulled herself out of her bed and walked over to her mirror and saw her hair poking out on all sides and her tired expression staring back at her. She yawned as she reached over for a brush and evened out her hair before stumbling out of her pyjamas and into her school gear. She had too go in for extra lessons, despite it being the school holidays, she felt left out, though granted, Uihara and Kuroko were out on Judgment the majority of the time anyway.

The door made a satisfying thud as it closed behind her and she stepped out down the steps that led up to the group of dorms that were in a hallway behind hers, the accommodation was very basic, and the building was comprised of a large block of dorms with two floors and a large roof overhanging the entrance to each door, there was no receptions for these basic accommodation, rather the doors led straight outdoors, granted the area was in a more urban area and closer to the school than in the luxurious dorms of Tokiwadai, but obviously lacked the charms that were found in the more expensive dorms of Tokiwadai. Saten liked her dorm though, it was a little piece of home for her, as she had completely customised the place out to her tastes and had all her personal shortcuts of having the right things in the right places for her morning routine, but this just reminded her of herself prior to becoming friends with Misata and Shirai, she was obviously the same person, but she had no motivation to have any ability prior to meeting them, and thought that maybe it could've been easier than being depressed about her inability, but then cursed herself as she showed no motivation back then and had at least grown that much, all she had too do now was turn that emotion into results of her having an ability.

Having arrived in class, she felt slightly more energised due to her earlier thoughts from her journey to school and did her best to stay focussed, dwelling on the words of her sensei also, in retrospect, he had told her she wasn't unintelligent, that was more than the other kids around her "look at these guys" she thought to herself as she shot a quick glance around the room at the other dunce's. She could definitely conclude she wasn't in the same league as them: she was better than that.

Her focus improved, for the start of the lesson anyway, she started to get lost around the middle of the lesson when she had quickly lost attention and didn't pick up one of the key pieces of information that Terada-sensei was about to follow up with, which threw her off. She figured she could just go hang out with Uiharu later and ask her to go over it quickly, but then realised what a huge chunk she was missing as Terada continued to cram the chalkboard full of more spider-diagrams and large words she couldn't make head or tail of. "Pah, it's all or nothing" She though as she raised her hand.

"Yes, Saten?" "I don't, I don't get it, sir" She followed up in a nervous tone, she wanted to get it. She couldn't just sit there and essentially waste her time watching confusing things scrawled across the board like there was. "Which part?" He eventually replied. Saten explained and eventually Terada went from the top and she felt her own personal growth as she felt the joy of learning once again, something that had only really happened when she was a child, learning about putting numbers together, and other things of the like. She had not realised she was pulling a wide grin as the lesson continued and she was scribbling notes into her notebook, this time genuine notes, not just pointless doodles of her speculation on the pattern of Uiharu's underwear. Though that did still cross her mind.

She smiled inwardly as she began her own small learning curve into what she believed would eventually lead to her finally gaining her ability.


	2. 2: A little motivation

The four girls sat in the small cafe on the corner of a street in the Tokiwadai, they sat on big leather chairs facing a dark mahogany table with their favourite cakes on the table and each with a modest cup of tea. "This is really good" Saten mumbled to Misaka, who was sitting opposite her, whilst munching on a piece of cake, holding the cake up to demonstrate what she meant. Misaka laughed at the sight. "Saten, it's really not flattering to talk with your mouth full!" she laughed once more as Saten embarresedly, as Saten placed the cake down and hurriedly tried to wipe her face of the crumbs that surrounded her mouth, Uiharu also joined in on the clear-up, clearly feeling responsibility for Saten and fussing over her. "No Uiharu, I'm not a child!" Saten retorted as Uiharu continued to pick pieces of cake out of her hair. "You're such a klutz" She said as she ignored Saten's request and continued. Sitting opposite, Misaka and Kuroko were in stiches at the sight. "You two look like a married couple" Kuroko said as her laughing subsided. "Just like we should be Onee-san" She followed up as she leant over to Misaka to steal a kiss, to which Misaka stopped her by planting her foot in her face, revealing what was under her skirt, whilst and fending off Shirai's ravaging arms. The waiter stood at the table with a puzzled look on his face as the two couples painted an interesting scene. Misaka realised what had happened and shouted at the waiter for looking up her skirt in embarresment, hiding that she was really just embarressed at the fact they were fighting like so in such a place. The four girls sat looking down gently sipping their tea, hiding their faces from the other customers in shame.

They left the restaurant in high spirits though, walking back to their dorms joking and playing with each other in the usual manner that they had come to know and love. Saten felt at home in this atmosphere, she wasn't letting anyone down or holding any of them back, unlike when they went on missions. She felt a small pang of sadness in her stomach as she bowed her head slightly and frowned at her own uselessness. She felt a pat on the back and heard "Aw c'mon, don't get us down now Saten, we still need to go shopping for some stuff for our sleepover tonight!" Misaka reassured her with her cheery smile and Saten couldn't help but smile right back at her.

The next day the sun was high and gave off a very lazy feel too all those who walked under it. Saten left Uiharu's house in high spirits as she plodded back home in a state of joy, things like that always made her feel much better, she loved having girly nights and watching trashy movies whilst shovelling down a tub of ice-cream, though Saten wasn't the conventional girly-type, she did enjoy some of the stereotypical things just as much as she did playing video games and watching action movies. She glanced both ways on the busy road as she slipped her headphones in and switched her music player on, "Hah.." she laughed inwardly at what she had just reminded herself of as she hit play. "Level upper, huh?" she said to herself as she crossed the road, forgetting that to the outside world she was just talking to herself, come to think of it, she really was just talking to herself. Saten laughed, as she found her thought train humorous in her light-hearted mood.

As she closed the door behind herself, having just get in, she almost said "I'm home everyone" but then remembered she lived alone before she spoke, a sad fact but nevertheless, her joyful mood didn't let her do anything but laugh at herself again. She rested her bag down as she slumped on her bed lazily, she hadn't exactly walked very far, but found it to be exhausting as the sun deemed this so. Her eyes shot across her desk that sat in front of the window which gave a nice view of the city, her notepad was sat open on a page with some writing scrawled across the page in her familiar, scrawly handwriting. It reminded her of her pleasant lesson she had and how it inspired her hope for her future and getting an ability.

EDIT: This is going somewhere, I promise, you'll see it next chapter :)


	3. 3: Motion

Yeah, I have realised that I was spelling Misaka as Misata for the majority of the fic and have corrected it, thanks for the heads up xD

Saten laid in the long machine that would scan her level and whether she could use an ability just yet. "Maybe this time…" She thought to herself as she heard the low humming of the machine begin and a light begin flickering from her toes and started travelling up her body. "I don't want to let my parents down again… They've placed so much trust in me here and expect me to help them out back home and to succeed" Images of her family back home began flickering in front of her mind's eye. She had missed her family. "I must believe!"

The paper was folded in her hands. She was quaking with a concoction of emotions. Fear. Expectation. Uneasiness. Hope. Her fingers found their way into the fold in the paper and flipped the paper open.

"LEVEL 0" with the character "0" Saten let out a big sigh and collapsed into a foetal position where she stood. Crouching, her head facing the ground, protecting her tears from everyone with her arms, she gently sobbed as she clutched the piece of paper tightly. "Why?…." was the only thought that passed through her mind as she remained in the same position for well over 5 minutes. She was too distraught to do anything but sit there. Saten felt a warm hand place itself on her shoulder "Saten-san?" Terada's voice came from behind her. "How embarrassing." She thought as she just stayed as still as a rock, she sure felt that way, a worthless cast-off. "You'll need to keep trying, Saten, I'm sure you just need some more time" He spoke softly, trying to ease her, but had the same effect as talking to a brick wall. "I'll be in my classroom, please come and speak to me" Terada let her know, she could tell he wanted just to help her, but he couldn't help but hate him at that moment, hell she hated everything at that moment in time, she wanted to go back to her room and stay in all day, comforting herself by eating noodles and reading cheesey shonen.

Saten plodded up the stairs to Terada's room like a zombie, the only thing running through her mind was the word "Why?" her eyes were half opened and still glistening as she had just been crying. She reached the top of the stairs and asked herself; "What's the point?" She stopped dead and swivelled her head around to the window next to her head. There was the other Level 0's going home, they all still looked in high spirits, there was even two friends laughing and joking to themselves and two boys pushing each other as they turned off at the road and departed from each other. She smiled uneasily to herself. "Looks like I'm just gonna have to get on with it again" she said to herself as she punched the air and pulled what she thought was a fearless expression.

"Terada-sensei" Saten walked in the room to find Terada sat at his desk once again "Ahh, Saten-san" He spoke kindly and pulled his familiar smile that always reassured her. He had been her teacher for the majority of her time in Academy City, so they knew each other quite well, considering her failing. "Even extra-curricular seems to have no effect on you, Saten" He spoke looking at her seriously, she knew something was up. "Yeah" "Here's the thing, Saten. If you are a Level 0 by the end of the year, we'll have no choice but to ask you to leave Academy City" Terada's voice was dead serious and his look suggested this too. Saten's face shot up from being glued to the floor and she looked Terada straight in the eye. "So I'm gonna have to work with everything I have" She began "No slacking off whatsoever?" "That's the idea Saten. Thankfully though, I've prepared" Terada replied "Saten, I know you and I think this would be the best for you at this point in time, you'll reach Level 1 if you follow this" He continued. "Eh?" Saten wondered what the hell he could be on about, but it sounded like he had a plan. He handed her a folder that was weighed down by all the paper in it.

"Thanks Terada-sensei" She said as she bowed outside the door and slid it shut. She turned and began walking towards the stairs, flicking through the folder she had just been given. There was a whole bunch of instructional papers, and a lot on philosophy of personal reality "Hmm" she thought "The philosophy stuff does reach out to me more so" she pushed the door open and flicked through to the next page "He's even given me a personal timetab-" CRASH. "Ouch" She said as she reached the bottom of the stairs, she managed to ignore the fact she was walking down stairs and fall down them. She pulled her folder towards her as she was nursing the back of her head with her hand, she saw the word 'Universal Reality' something must've clicked in the back of her head, but she sat there for a while, just staring at the word on the page blankly.

"So yeah, I'm supposed to stay at home until my next level test" "What? No way! How can they trust you to stay home and study?" "They've told me I'll have to leave Academy City if I'm not a Level 1 by the end of the year" Saten was sat at home and felt the urge to let Uiharu what was going on. "Let me help you study!" Uiharu announced. "That's a no can do apparently" Saten Began, "I have to figure this out on my own apparently" "O-okay, if there's anything you need or need help with, please let me know" Uiharu replied, Saten could tell that she couldn't lose Saten, as they were such close friends now. "It'll be fine Uiharu" Saten smiled to herself, Uiharu was truly the best friend Saten ever had.

"Alright Uiharu, I need to sleep, it's gonna be a big day for me tomorrow!"


	4. 4: Downwards

It was late July and there were birds buzzing around the sky outside of Saten's window. She gazed out at the trees flickering in the wind and the said birds flying around and into the tree in what looked like some obscure game of chase for birds. She smiled as she watched the picturesque scene unfold and was inwardly happy. For those moments when she could observe such pleasant scenes she could forget all about her problems, her worries, her fears, her concerns. They were non-existent and nowhere to be seen in her mind's eye. Saten felt the sun heating up the bottom half of her face and the pleasant feeling of her arms being caressed by the warmth of the sun. She was just a person in sat in her room with the warm feeling of the world around her, not troubled by such things. The world looked bright from there. She reached over to a plate where she had cut several slices of watermelon and took one of the pieces and nonchalantly nibbling on the side, delicately separated the seeds from melon and spitting them lazily back onto the plate.

The sky was interrupted by a single cloud, it was a bright white and a distinct outline that disrupted the skyline, it just sat in the blue, ever present. The cloud moved slowly through the sky towards the small room, seemingly getting bigger as it approached. The silver lining of the cloud darkened to a ominous dark grey colour and blocked out the sun as it came closer yet. Saten sat up and peered out the window at the cloud hanging over. The blue sky outside of the cloud remained as the cloud grew a darker colour and disrupted the entire skyline. It began raining briefly for around 30 seconds and passed over.

Saten looked at the tree, which still stood with the usual activity that had already come to pass before the cloud had dispensed it's little rain, she could still see it there out the opposite window, ever present.

Saten was sat on a lounger chair with a small table sitting just above her.

Saten reached over for another piece of watermelon, still basking in her ignorance of temporarily forgetting her studies. She felt the smooth paper as her hand continued to run over and feel her pen. She turned over to see the paper with the date heading the top of the page. That was all she had written. The thought of her predicament and how little she had done so far created a black hole in her stomach that made her feel ill with the whole situation. She recalled what Terada-sensei had said to her. "You'll reach Level 1 if you follow this" The rectangular folder was thick with paper holding the middle up was sat on her table flipped open to the first piece of paper. Saten leant over the table to get a good glance to remind herself of what she had tried to start. "Give a definition of Personal Reality" it read. "Heh" Saten said to herself, this was something she had constantly gone over in her mind. She clicked the end of her pen with her chin and pressed the pen to the paper and began writing. "Personal Reality is a single person's world; their own version of reality, a personal universe, everything they see, hear, touch, smell and taste, the idea that nothing outside of this exists" Saten pulled her pen away and inspected her answer as she nonchalantly chewed on the end of her pen once more. Her eyes felt heavy.

Saten sat up groggily and turned her head to see her phone vibrating on the table she was sat next to.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Hey, it's Uiharu"

"Oh, Uiharu, what's up?"

"Saten, I just called to check up you're doing your work"

"Uhh, yeah, right, work"

"Saten!"

"Yeah, I'm getting on to it now, see ya later Uiharu" Saten ended the phone call.

"This isn't good" Saten thought to herself. "Okay! I need to get down to this now!" Saten promptly rolled over to see her book filled only with the one question she had answered earlier. "What exactly is in this folder?" Saten pulled the folder onto her lap and flicked through the pages of long paragraphs and descriptions. "Ugh…" She moaned to herself as she slammed the folder, blowing all the paper on the table to the floor. She just looked at it in disgust and stood up.

"Uiharu, come meet me"

"What? I thought you were studying?"

"It's not working, there has to be a better way of doing this"

"O-okay"

Uiharu and Saten were strolling through the lower half of the town where there were amusements lining either side of the pedestrianised street, lighting up Saten and Uiharu's faces with the golden glow of the arcades. "So I just fell asleep after answering one of the questions from the folder, what now?" Saten probed Uiharu for some sort of magical solution as she strode down the street with her hands locked behind her back taking playfully big steps. "Well, you really should just get your head down and do what the folder says" Uiharu answered laughing, she really couldn't see Saten's predicament. "Yeah, well you're studious Uiharu, you don't have these problems" Saten sulked as she thought of how easily Uiharu got through her homework when they had little sleepovers.

CRASH. A man was thrown through a small claw grab machine and out onto the street where the pair were walking. "Heh, you think you're something special?" The man said as he stood up wearily from the blow he had just taken, he was wearing a plain shirt and black trousers, with an unmistakeable Judgment armband attached to his arm. He had golden hair that fell to the top of his eyes and deep brown eyes that looked focussed on the opponent before him. The other man shot off down the street, Saten deduced that he was some kind of fugitive that Judgment were chasing. The Judgment man gave chase and so did Uiharu, who was shortly followed by Saten. They came to a dead end where the man had evidently turned to fight the Judgment member, who was now joined by Uiharu. "I'm from Judgment also, allow me to help you!" she stated formally as she stood beside him and stared at the opponent. "Get out of here kid, he's out of your league" He returned in the same formal manner. In the same second, the man took the opportunity to activate his ability as his arms turned to a shiny steel colour. "So he can manipulate his body's chemical make-up?" "Seems that way" He leaped forward with a speed towards the Judgment man who swiftly made a dodge, but he continued towards Saten who was stood behind him and cocked his fist back ready to strike her. Saten screamed. "NO!" The Judgment member yelled as he cast his hand out in front of him. His hand detached from his arm, connected by a metal wire. Everything was moving in slow motion. Saten saw his metal man's fist grow closer to her as the Judgment member's hand had reached the fugitive and rounded his neck, restraining him, he then yanked his arm back, subsequently throwing the man out of range of Saten and onto his back. "This one's between you and me!" He called as he leaped towards the fugitive and pulled his fist back ready to punch him. He threw a punch straight at the fugitive's head. He laughed as his face turned a shiny grey colour. "Urgh!" The man pulled his hand back in recoil. The man's face had turned to steel and the Judgment member's hand was bleeding from his knuckles. The blonde man then stepped back as he detached his other hand and wrapped it around his midriff and threw him up in the air and brought him back down with force. The victim yelled in pain as his body didn't flinch any longer.

"Th-Thanks for saving me back there" Saten eventually said as the Judgment man had slung the unconscious criminal over his shoulder and they had all accompanied him back to HQ. "It's no big deal" He smiled "I'm Hayato, by the way" "Saten" She replied as she felt her cheeks blush slightly. "I'm Uiharu, by the way" Uiharu added. "Alright, nice to meet you" He finished as he heaved the fugitive over his shoulder once more.

"So Saten…"

Maybe things would look up for Saten.


	5. 5: Change

HEY.

Sorry for this INCREDIBLY late update. And plus it's a short chapter. I'M SO SORRY.

Basically this is me saying I'm going to continue writing this more regularly.

* * *

Saten had worked for at least an hour before she gave up and phoned Uiharu.

She could've sworn the scene was de-ja-vu. The same plate was laid out with watermelon and the same sun was beaming through her windows with the same scene unfolded outside of the window, time seemed to have captured it as if it were a painting.

Saten slipped into her usual casual wear that was outside of her lounge wear that consisted of stupidly comfy pyjamas and her massive slippers. Her phone slipped into her pocket and the familiar weight of her phone and keys made her sure that she was ready to go.

.

.

The train buzzed off behind Saten as she walked down the stairs from the station towards Uiharu, she waved her hand above her head at Uiharu to make sure she could see her, and her smile and return wave confirmed that she had seen her as Saten looked left and right before crossing the road to where Uiharu was stood waiting. She was wearing her uniform and judgment armband.

'eh?' Saten exclaimed as she noticed that Uiharu was going to be working.

'Just because you can't work, doesn't mean I'm not' Uiharu teased Saten. Saten didn't mind, because judgment always seemed to be a lively thing to do.

.

.

'Hey everyone' Uiharu spoke as she entered the judgment room where she would be assigned her job for the day. Saten strolled in the door and casually greeted all of the members sat around at computers, she'd been here often with Uiharu, Kuroko and Misaka.

'So today we need you right here' a familiar blonde figure turned the corner and gestured towards a seat.

'Hey!' Saten exclaimed a little louder than she had done in her head. 'You're from yesterday!' she smiled towards Hayato.

'Oh, hey, what're you doing here?' He replied, with an air of confusion. It was only natural, she strolled in with no uniform or armband.

'Oh, I always hang out here with Uiharu' She laughed

'This isn't really a place to hang though' He returned with a laugh.

'Oh don't worry, I help out too!' Saten smiled

Hayato smiled at Saten. 'All right everyone, we've got work to do!'

.

.

Everyone had finished up a hard day of tracking criminals for the ground operatives to hunt and Saten helping everyone, mainly making them drinks, when Uiharu, Saten and Hayato had to lock up for the day.

'Hayato, you're pretty respected around judgment, huh?' Saten said as she stretched her legs as they exited the building.

'I guess, I'm just older than a lot of the members here'

'Eh? Why're you older than everyone? You can't be any older than the seniors'

Hayato nervously laughed and Saten could hear him stop what he was doing.

He paused and stood still before he spoke.'I had to stay on an extra 3 years before I was allowed to graduate' There was a silence as Saten turned to look at him. 'But, I don't wanna depress you with that' Hayato turned and smiled at Saten in an attempt to change the mood.

'I'm sorry' Saten returned, a shocked look plastered across her face, not what she thought he'd want to see, but it happened anyway. 'If you don't wanna talk about it, it's cool' Saten smiled as she finished her sentence, trying to assure him that it was fine.

'I've only just met you and I'm telling you this stuff. I can imagine it's quite out of the blue. Let's go at any rate'

Saten and Hayato walked left whereas Uiharu took a right, as she only lived a short walk away.

'I trust you to not let anything bad happen to her, Hayato!' Uiharu called after them.

Hayato raised a hand in recognition.

.

.

'How did you eventually pass then Hayato?' Saten began. She had formulated the words she'd wanted to ask him. 'I'll admit to you now that I'm a Level 0... so I guess I kinda know how you feel' Saten paused as she stared at the ground in embarrassment. 'My friends all have abilities and are doing well, they all seem to be going on ahead without me, and I'll just be left behind while they go on and do amazing things, whereas I'll just be...' She paused as she choked up. This was the first time she'd even spoke these words or thought about them. 'forgotten' Saten managed to speak as the tears were now flowing down her face and she had stopped walking altogether.

'Oi, don't worry about that stuff' Hayato spoke as he pulled Saten in for a hug. 'I think I can relate to you. I'll help you out.'

Saten was honestly taken aback by this statement. 'No, no, you don't have to do this out of sympathy or pity for me' She began wiping her tears to look more presentable. She felt like she'd guilt tripped him into doing this.

'Nah, I can't back down now. I was helped by someone else I know back then, so I should give back to the cycle' he said as he gazed off into the distance, forlornly.

'Are you serious? I guess I could accept your help' Saten joked now, her face still stained from the tears.

'Yeah, now lets get you to that Level 1' Hayato smiled.

Saten felt warm inside.


	6. 6: Almost

OH GOD. FUCK. SORRY.

I take too long to update this. Terribly sorry and thank you those of you that haven't given up on this story just yet. PEACE AND LOVE.

I'd like to say that this chapter has motivated me enough to get it finished soon, but I don't wanna promise anything yet. Sorry 'bout that.

* * *

Saten looked out at the school field where she'd being running a couple of days back, squinting, hoping to find a figure to break up the clear sandy colour that stretched out the treeline which signified the end of the school field. It was another sunny day in Academy City and Saten felt good about today. It was the day Hayato would help her out and she would get on course to acquiring an ability.

"So how long have you been waiting here?" Saten squeaked out in surprise when she heard the soft, low tones of Hayato's voice. She swiftly turned around and slapped him on the arm before laughing.

"Don't make me jump like that!" she jokily replied to him. "Uh? What's that?" He was trailing a cart of baseballs and a couple bats.

"We're gonna get that ability outta you" He patted her on the head as he walked past, pulling on a baseball cap.

.

.

Saten stared down at the markings on the ground for the batter before worriedly turning her gaze upwards to Hayato who was stood at the pitching mound.

"Wh-What exactly is the point of all this again?" She called out in a nervous voice. She wasn't entirely into baseball but recalled the last time she held a bat she was the saviour. Pride welled up in her and her vision narrowed down to Hayato, who raised his arm, poised to pitch her.

"I'm gonna go easy at first, but don't expect that for too long" he called out, his arm paused and ready to throw.

"EYAHHHHH" Saten shut her eyes firmly and dropped the bat after the ball had whizzed past her.

"Aw, c'mon, that wasn't even that quick Saten, keep your eyes open" Hayato called as he reached into the cart for another ball.

She nervously swallowed before recalling those feelings of pride once more. "I have to at least keep my eyes open and hit it" She thought to herself. The bat was heavy in her arms and she felt the weight of the thing swaying under her weaker arms. Her protective helmet was also restricting, making her ears dulled and it was tight on her head. She watched Hayato go through the motions and the ball travel towards her in slow motion. "Here goes!" She thought briefly before swinging the bat out weakly towards the ball.

"PING!" She felt the bat recoil back towards her as the ball glanced off of the bat.

"Good!" Hayato called out to her. "Keep working on it, you see there's nothing to be scared of"

.

.

.

The bat rattled on the ground as Saten fell forward onto her knees and the sweat dropped off of her feet. She was exhausted. She trusted Hayato, but didn't understand the point of the training and the thought of his lack of explanation created a hot feeling in her chest of annoyance towards Hayato.

"You all spent?" He spoke to her as he stepped towards the exhausted girl, pulling his glove off and throwing it beside her before sitting down next to her, buckled over, staring at the ground.

"Siddown Saten" He patted the ground beside him and she awkwardly manoeuvred before crashing onto her back.

"What's the point of all this then. Are you just gonna say nothing?" Saten began as she looked over at Hayato.

"You gotta trust me on this one. Otherwise it won't work" He smiled at her before pulling himself to his feet. "I'll give you a couple minutes break, then we're gonna run"

"Oka-What!" She cut her sentence short as she just realised what he said. She was evidently exhausted, what would he gain from making her more tired?

"Like I said" He turned back to her and began walking backwards toward the running track. "You gotta trust me"

Saten swallowed her pride and decided to trust him. She didn't know better than him and that kind of annoyed her. She really hated running.

.

.

.

"C'mon Saten, give it your all. Like your life depends on this."

"I've gotta keep going"

"You're not running, you're just dragging your feet! C'mon, pick up the pace"

"Ugh, he is ticking me off"

"That's good"

Saten had been running for roughly 10 minutes and was beginning to show signs of faltering. She felt her worn legs clipping on each other from time to time, threatening to trip her up.

"Saten, listen to me now" Hayato was running with her and slowed down to level with her. "This is it. Make or break. Hit your limit and keep going"

"What? I can't go for much longer. It's just impossible" She managed to gasp back to him.

"If you want the ability that bad, you're gonna have to just do it. No thinking about it"

Saten looked ahead and her vision began to blur slightly. "This is impossible" She thought as she let her legs slow down and eventually give way as she slumped to the ground.

"Saten, this is it" Hayato began, staring at Saten with a stern face. "I know every muscle aches, but you have to keep going"

"O-okay" She responded, but she was cursing him in her head. Why couldn't he get it into his head that she wasn't going anywhere. She heaved her legs up and managed to stand again before stumbling a couple steps and crashing into the ground.

"C'mon. You can do this Saten. I know you can. Level 0 is all that awaits you if you can't surpass this"

"Goddamn that stupid asshole" The words 'Level 0' were like a puppeteer pulling her to her feet. She managed to start jogging again with the words in her head. Thinking of her body, she could feel everything pulling and tugging with every step. Her senses opened up and became aware of everything that she was. Nothing was outside of that for that very moment. The moment was cut short as she looked at Hayato staring at her with a concerned face. "How come he's pushing me this hard even knowing that I'm unable to keep going!" She felt her legs finally collapse beneath her as her concentration broke.

"I'm finished" She called to him as she lay in a heap on the ground, staring at the dirt underneath her.

"Okay. We're done for today I guess. You had to be close there th-"

"No Hayato!" Saten cut him short. "You're just making me exhausted! This stupid exercise is doing nothing!" Her speech gradually increased in tone and eventually it was evident she was fighting back tears.

"I know you feel like that now, but trust me Saten. It will all pay off in the end" Hayato tried to reconcile the teary girl.

"No. That's it. Don't bother meeting me tomorrow. I'll do it myself, you're just waisting my time here" Saten angrily responded to him.

Hayato paused as he watched her in an emotional pile on the ground. "'kay. I guess if that's how you feel. Just call me tonight when you're all rested up" He turned and walked away from her.

In that moment, Saten felt a pang of sadness. She was mad at him, yet to see him turn and walk away she felt sad. Ah, heck she knew she'd just said a bunch of hurtful stuff to him. She was still mad.

.

.

.

"Yeah" Saten continued to explain her day to Uiharu over her phone with her tooth brush in her mouth. She was hobbling across the room due to her muscle pain from the extensive exercise. "He had me run everywhere, but I got real mad and said some stupid stuff. I feel terrible though. He said to call him after I'd rested up though"

"Ah! You'd probably better apologise straight away then!" Uiharu quickly responded with a worried tone. Saten knew it was bad if Uiharu had thought something bad. "Also, we always used to do running back in middle school. The ones that hadn't got abilities were put through extensive physical activity for Judgment. Weird how the ones that got exhausted quicker got their abilities quicker, huh?"

"What? That's real weird. And plus yeah. I'd better call him, how embarrassing..."

"Just do it!"

"Kay, kay. I'm hanging up now."

BEEP. The call ended and she began clicking through her phone to find Hayato's number. CALL. She clicked and screwed up her face as she nervously lifted the phone to her ear.

The ringing seemed to go on forever. Eventually it was ended by the click of the phone being picked up. "Uh, hey, Saten."

"Um.. Hi" She began. "Listen, Hayato, I'm sorry about the stuff I said earlier. I really appreciate you helping out and stuff, it's just I don't see much point in it."

"That's fine, I'm sorry for pushing you so hard. Saten, what did you feel when you were at your limit?"

Saten paused and thought back. The moment she lost concentration was when she saw Hayato. "I dunno."

Hayato laughed. "Okay, okay. Hopefully you can figure it out yourself. Just think about this question: What is the definition of Personal Reality?" He paused after the question and she dwelled on her thoughts in the silence. "If you need me, you'll know where to find me. I hope to see you soon, Saten. BEEP" Hayato hung up on her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Saten frustratedly flipped her phone shut in one hand and threw herself onto her bed.

.

.

.

Saten laid on the bed in one of 'those' moods where she just lost herself in her thoughts, doing mental circles, ending up nowhere. She rolled over and saw some paper dumped on the table next to a text book that Terada-sensei had given her. She flipped it open and saw the words "Give a definition of Personal Reality"

"This question keeps turning up huh? I've tried before and it still makes no sense" She pushed it to one side and saw a sheet of paper fly out from underneath the book. She picked it up and saw it was the answers the questions written.

"Personal Reality is a single person's world; their own version of reality, a personal universe, everything they see, hear, touch, smell and taste, the idea that nothing outside of this exists" Was the answer to "that question" She scrunched up the paper and tossed it to one side, the words lingering in her mind. Saten stood up and walked over to her window and gazed out of it, looking at the darkened city scape of the city unfolded before her and many beautiful lights illuminating the darkness pleasantly with the blue sky sitting on top of the picturesque scene.

"My family are still counting on me huh? And my friends, they're getting further and further away" She stopped to wipe away a single tear, she just kept crying these days. It was such an ordeal to have abilities. She thought of the exercise she had done with Hayato and what he'd asked her. What did she feel in that moment before her concentration was broken by Hayato?

Saten's eyes widened in realisation. That moment before she had experienced some profound sense of – senses! Everything about her she could feel. It was like nothing before, some hyperawareness of everything happening in her body. What could only be described as her body as completely seperate from what was happening! Then she was broken by something _outside_ of her consciousness.

She took a step back and gently lowered herself onto her bed. What she'd experienced couldn't have been a complete Personal Reality experience, she'd have to try again tomorrow. It would definitely happen.

"You'll know where to find me" Hayato's words shot into her mind.

"Goddamnit, he knew I'd find it out huh" She rolled onto her bed in a sort of glee. She would finally work and achieve her ability.

00:28 the clock read. "AHH" Saten rolled over in a desperate attempt to get some sleep.


	7. 7:ZEROALL

EHEHE... I was late again huh? I ended this one a bit short of where I intended, but it's similar to other chapters in length. I wanted to get this one out there as the next part is difficult to write...

Anyway, thanks for the continued reviews and support. Please continue to read this fic, you won't be disappointed. ;)

* * *

Saten shot out of bed the next morning bright and early, responding immediately to her phone alarm going off. This was uncharacteristic of her. How could she not be motivated though? Today was vitally important, it was also important that she would be motivated for it. She knew what awaited her.

"It's a good sign" She spoke to herself as she sat on her bed and rubbed her eyes to reveal her familiar darkened room, messy as usual. She at the darkened clock hands on the opposite wall. She was in good time. Saten figured Hayato would be waiting at the same time, for ease. She knew that this was too late though. She had time on her hands and she was going to put all of it towards her ability.

As the dark haired girl sat munching on her bowl of cereal in the breaking daylight she looked over her notes on personal reality and ability attainment. She looked at the words on the page and they all made sense now. A massive breakthrough for her, considering before it was like staring at a page of foreign text she didn't understand.

"Problems with ability attainment" She read, before spooning another mouthful of those oh-so delicious bran flakes into her mouth. "1. Exhaustion. The user can experience prolonged sense of tiredness and constant exhaustion. A break is usually advised and the user should stay indoors for a couple of days." She read, in her monotonous reading voice. "2. Personality breakthrough. In some cases, the person may enter an unexplainable psychological battle. Self-reports indicate that the person has to make some kind of breakthrough within themselves before achieving their abilities. Users that are unable to make this breakthrough usually come out dejected, and never usually attain their ability passed this and also suffer some, in some cases, irrecoverable mental trauma. Though this is all speculation, as there is no evidence to prove the existence of this strange, rare phenomenon." her intonation peaked towards the end of the sentence and her eyes widened. This was way too much. She couldn't handle that.

"It's all just fabrication though. I have no breakthrough to make" Saten told herself. She had already made great leaps and bounds towards her ability in the last day. This was her new, reformed self. She resolved this as she pulled on her school uniform and threw her physical education kit in her bag.

Saten looked long and hard at herself in the mirror before leaving the door.

"CRACK" The door was heard behind her it was loud and echoed down the silent hallways of the dorm. Saten turned and walked down the hallway in the newly lit corridors and felt a vibration in her bag as she marched determined, towards her objective.

She pulled out her phone to see a text from Uiharu. "Do your best out there today Saten. I'll come see you when you're done" It read. She smiled. Uiharu knew she had to be there, whether the result be good or bad and Saten recognised that. She felt a single tear trickle down her smiling cheeks as she snapped her phone shut and pushed open a door in her way.

.

.

"The next stop is in – 2 minutes"

The tannoy for the train rang out in Saten's ears as she continued to stare out the window at the school approaching on the horizon, it's big grey walls growing larger and obstructing the pale white sky. The day had greyed over and the mood had been dampened, but not Saten's burning desire to succeed. It was no longer about the ability itself. It was about her personal success. Overcoming a boundary. A learning experience.

Saten kept her head down as she entered the school gates. Usually she would look up to see the building – large and intimidating, overbearing her and making her feel small with her lack of an ability. Not today. She continued around the school walls and into the field behind the school, it looked the same again today, except the mood of the sky projected a certain ominous presence onto it. "I'll conquer you today" She spoke to herself as she threw down her kitbag, ready to change into something easier and more loose fitting. "Looks like you realised it finally." Saten recognised that low toned voice anywhere. "Sorry for treating you harshly yesterday. Though I'm sure you understand the reason now right?" Hayato was wearing a familiar, comforting grin. Saten smiled weakly. "It's fine, let's do this" She spoke with determination as she watched her hands loop her laces into a tight ribbon on her running shoes.

Saten noticed her breathing was shallow and quick. With every step she took, she felt her body thud with the impact it made. Her legs still ached from the previous day and the blisters on her feet were certainly giving her a hard time. She managed to overlook all of this as she glared ahead as if her objective was personified in front of her very eyes. "You're doing great" Hayato attempted to lighten up the mood with some easy encouragement. She nodded, to avoid saying anything and losing her breath any more than she already was.

Saten squinted as she felt the pain building up around her body and making her head fizz with nausea. She'd been running for about 20 minutes now and she felt the limit wasn't too far off. "This is where it begins now" She quickened her pace and mentally stabilised herself. "We're almost there, Saten!" Hayato called out to her. She felt a cold drop on her hand as the ground began to cry out with the sound of rain coming down. Great. This was what she needed. "Talk about setting the mood!" Hayato added, with a humorous tone, giving her a thumbs up. She smiled slightly before returning to her meditative state of running.

Saten was now soaked and her pace was dropping to a scuffle as her feet failed to keep up with the pace Hayato had been setting. Her vision became blurred as her wrists started to limp and all the other signs of fatigue began resting on Saten's body. The words 'Personality Breakthrough' kept flashing up in her mind as she could feel the panicked feeling begin to flare up in her chest. Her mind began racing. She couldn't be experiencing that thing. It couldn't happen to her "No, this can't be happening" Her mind was whizzing round in a desperate hurry. "Wait, no. Calm down Saten. I'm going to have to deal with this." Her face fixed on as she felt her legs begin to ignore her demands to keep them going. Her vision faded to black as her line of sight crashed down onto the floor.

.

.

Saten came too and she was staring at a dull white ceiling and she could hear her breath echo and felt it's warmth on her mouth. Everything was fuzzy and she couldn't make anything out for sure. Her entire body was aching with fatigue – more extreme than she'd ever felt it before though. Scanning all the feelings down her body, she winced with pain as she felt a sharp stinging pain in her knees.

"Hey, everybody, Saten's awake!" She felt a familiar voice call. Saten's eyes were half-opened.

"Saten!" Another voice that she could place screamed out as she felt the blurred figure lean in to hug her.

"Hey, she's fragile!" Came another third voice.

"That's right." She thought to herself. "It's Uiharu and the others" Saten concluded as she rested her eyes.

With the realisation of who was there, she was brought to reality. She shot up and her eyes were wide open. She ripped off an oxygen mask that she had just realised was attached to her face. "What happened!" Everyone flinched in surprise at Saten's sudden motion.

The door slid open and another familiar face stepped in. It was Hayato, his presence calmed her. "Saten, please, rest for now" He told her worriedly as he lowered her back into the bed and placed the mask back on her. Saten felt the fatigue wash over her and she began to rest again.

"She entered a state of..." Hayato paused. Saten had awoken but seemingly intruded on a conversation. She feigned still being asleep.

"What!" Uiharu broke his pause with her panicked tone. "Personality breakthrough" He finished his sentence immediately after her prompt. "It's a rare condition that most people only read about. It usually only occurs in rare cases where people have real difficulty in gaining abilities and it can result in two things"

"I remember studying such a phenomenon" Kuroko spoke quite detached from the situation. "So how do we know if it ended well?" She continued in her business voice.

"Well, we won't know until Saten knows. Everyone that goes through this gets physically beat up like Saten is anyway, so this is no indicator. God knows she's been mentally put through a lot too"

"You sound knowledgeable on the topic, Hayato." Misaka's voice had a critical tone. Saten heard Hayato flinch.

"Well no flies on Tokiwadai's Railgun" He laughed "Yes... I had to pass Personality Breakthrough. So she's the only one who knows the outcome. I'm just worried about what kind of hell she went through though"

These words triggered a painful headache for Saten. Scenes began flashing before her eyes of her memories continued from her passing out.


End file.
